The recently much taunted term "globalization" suggests that de-colonizing and newly industrializing societies with the working men and women pose a threat to Europe's and North America's societies as distant cheap labour and as potential in-migrants. This essay, first questions this scenario with an analytical perspective on migrant men's and women's agency. Second, use of historical memory as a resource to understand the present changes and migrations indicates that globalization began with Europe's mid-15th century colonizing outreach. Analytical reactivation of these longue-durée processes provides the frame for today's mentalities and policy-making. Third, Europeans' late 19th and 20th century mass migrations will be discussed to provide perspective on the present ones. On this basis, the essay, fourth, discusses opportunity and constraint structures in terms of human rights as well as mentalities of a "Europe in the World" from the 1950s on. In conclusion, issues of European Union migrant admission policies and of inclusion and exclusion will be approached.